Kiwis cruise to another easy win

This time the race was essentially over before the teams even got to the starting line.

There were no equipment failures Tuesday, no jibs fluttering in the breeze. It was smooth sailing for Emirates Team New Zealand, which unofficially beat Luna Rossa Challenge by a whopping 7 minutes and 14 seconds.

Because the final deficit was more than five minutes, the race officially was recorded as a “did not finish” for the Italians, their second in three head-to-head races against the Kiwis in the Louis Vuitton Cup round-robin.

“We’ve got an awful lot of work to do,” Luna Rossa grinder Giles Scott said. “We’re struggling. We’re not as quick. We’re trying to stay as positive as we can.”

Team New Zealand, which has one more round-robin race against the Italian team on Sunday, had clinched a berth in the challenger finals over the weekend. Skipper Dean Barker said it was possible the team would sail in the semifinals anyway to work on race maneuvering.

Choosing that option would be risky, though. As Sunday’s loss of the jib sail demonstrated, mechanical problems can happen, possibly resulting in serious – and dangerous – problems.

“There’s value in racing,” Barker said. “We have to balance that up against improvements to the boat. We haven’t ruled it out.”

The day started poorly for Luna Rossa. When it launched its boat at low tide, the port-side rudder hit the bottom, damaging its edge. The rudder had to be removed, repaired and replaced by divers before the team left the dock.

“It’s not ideal,” Scott said. But he said, “The boat was fine at race time.” The repair job delayed the team’s arrival in the prestart zone, and it crossed the starting line 15 seconds after the Kiwis.

The one-sided races haven’t robbed New Zealand of its competitive zeal, grinder Chris McAsey said. “We’ll keep pushing. Never take the foot off the throat, as they say.”